Implement for removing detonated primers



March 16, 1943. e. N. ALBREE IMPLEMENT FOR REMOVING DETONATED PRIMERS Filed Dec. .10, 1941 \hvemor. George Norman Albree Patented Mar. 16, 1943 QFFECE IMPLEMENT FOR REMOVING DETONATED PRIIVLE George Norman Albree, Winchester, Mass. Application December 10, 1941, Serial No. 422,321 2 Claims. ((Jl. 86-37) This invention relates to a novel decapping implement for removing detonated primers from fired or empty cartridge cases.

When cartridge cases are to be hand-loaded after having been fired, one of the preliminary steps necessary is to eject the detonated primer to make room for a fresh primer. Center fire cartridges for firearms are made in a large number of different sizes and in the case of American made arms of the rifle and pistol classes, these sizes range all the way from the familiar .22 or smaller to the .50 or larger.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a novel decapping implement which is simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture and which can be used equally well for decapping empty cartridge cases of a large number of different sizes.

Further objects of the invention are to provide an implement for the above purpose which is compact and can be easily carried in ones pocket or in ones kit; to provide a decapping device which embodies a receiving chamber to receive the ejected primer and in which such ejected primers may accumulate, thereby preventing such ejected primers from dropping onto the floor as they are forced out of the cartridge case; to provide an implement of this type which is so con' structed that the primer-ejecting element may be stored in said receiving chamber when the implement is not being used, thus eliminating any possibility of loss of such element, and otherwise to improve decapping implements in the particulars hereinafter set forth.

In the drawing wherein I have illustrated a selected embodiment of my improved invention,

Fig. l is a perspective view showing the body member on which the empty cartridge case is supported and which is provided with the receiving chamber.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22, Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4, Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section through the body member on the line 55, Fig. 3 and showing the operation of ejecting a primer from an empty cartridge case.

My improved device comprises a body member constructed to support the empty cartridge case while the primer is being ejected therefrom and a primer-ejecting element by which the primer is ejected from the empty cartridge case. The body member is shown at l and it is preferably an elongated member having a fiat bottom surface 3 and provided with an interior receiving chamber 4 which extends substantially the full length thereof and is open at one end as shown at 5. This open end of the chamber 4 is adapted to be closed by a removable plug 6. The chamber 4 is shown as cylindrical and the outer end is provided with interior screw threads 1 to receive exterior screw threads formed on the plug 6. provided with a knurled head 8 by which it can be turned to screw it into or unscrew it from the screw-threaded end of the chamber 4.

The body member I is provided with a slot 12 which extends longitudinally thereof and communicates with the chamber 4. The surface l3 on the upper side of the body member immediately circumjacent said slot is flat and parallel to the bottom face 3 and it constitutes a casereceiving surface on which the head of the car-v tridge case I6 is placed while the primer 15 is being ejected. 1

In order to provide for automatically centering a cartridge case I6 over the slot [2 regardless of the size of said case, the body member I is formed with two opposing walls l4 between which the slot is centrally located, which walls have a divergent arrangement so that the distance between them is a progressively increasing distance from one end of the slot to the other. When a cartridge case I6 is placed on the surface [3 and moved along the surface until the head of the cartridge tangentially engages the two walls M, the cartridge will then be centered over the slot l2, so that the detonated primer can be ejected therefrom and delivered through said slot into the chamber 4 as will be presently described.

These walls l4 may be provided for in any approved way. One simple way is to provide the upper face 2 of the body I with a shallow recess, the bottom of which forms the case-receiving surface I3 and the walls of which provide the diverging case-centering walls [4. Where the recess construction is provided, the ends of the recess are preferably rounded as shown at It) and H and said recess is formed so that it extends slightly beyond the slot at both ends.

The ejection of the detonated primer l5 from a cartridge case [6 is accomplished by means of a primer-ejecting element I! which is herein shown as in the form of a rod of a size to pass through the neck of the smallest cartridge case and havingone end l8 reduced in diameter to a size to pass through the flash hole of the cartridge case.

In the operation of ejecting a detonated primer I5 from a cartridge case It, the case is placed on the surface [3 with its head in engagement therewith and said case is then moved over the Said plug is surface into a position in which said head has tangential engagement with both walls N, thereby centering the primer over the slot. A small cartridge case will, naturally, be centered between the divergent walls 14 in a position closer to the small end of the recess than a larger cartridge case. This is shown in Fig. 3 wherein the dotted circles a and b show the centered positions of two cartridge cases of different sizes.

After the cartridge case [6 has been centered over the slot I2 by the walls I 4, the ejecting element I! is then inserted through the neck of the cartridge case and the reduced end I8 is inserted into the flash hole of said case.

A tap on the ejecting element ll with a ham mer, or pressure applied thereto by an arbor.

press or some similar device will serve to force the detonated primer I5 out of the cartridge case l6, and as the cartridge case is centered over the slot I2, the ejected primer will drop through the slot 12 into the receiving chamber 4 where it is confined. This receiving chamber may be large enough to hold upwards of 100 detonated primers and thus with this implement it is possible to decap a large number of empty cases without having the ejected primers and the accompanying dirt and dust scattered over the floor or over the bench or other support on which the decapping implement is supported.

After a considerable number of detonated primers have accumulated in the receiving chamber 4, the latter may be quickly emptied by removing the plug 6 and discharging the contents of the chamber through the open end thereof.

The primers which are used in domestic, commercial cartridge cases for arms of the rifle and pistol classes are of either one of two sizes which differ from each other by only .035 of. an inch. This difierence is so small that a slot wide enough to accommodate primers of the largest size will function correctly for the decapping of cases having no primers of either size, and since there is no variation in the size of the primers used in small and large cartridges, it is possible to make the slot 12 of uniform width as shown.

The ejecting element I1 is constructed so that when the implement is not being used, said element may be stored in the chamber 2 in such a way as to protect the end 18 of reduced diameter.

The plug is provided with a two-diameter axial bore extending from its inner end, the portion [9 of the bore of larger diameter being of a size to receive the shank or body of the element ll, and the portion of smaller diameter being of a size to receiv the small end [8 of said primerejecting element. When the implement is to be laid away or to be carried in ones pocket or kit, the ejecting element I'i will be assembled with the plug 6 by inserting the end of said implement into the two-diameter bore of the plug and then the plug may be screwed into the end of the chamber 4 as shown in Fig. 2. The element I1 is made of the proper length so that when the plug 6 is screwed home, the end of Said element will contact or nearly contact the end of the chamber 4.

The element I1 is thus not only confined within the chamber 4, but the small end l8 thereof is completely protected by the plug 6, thereby avoiding any possibility that it may become broken or damaged.

'involve employment of somewhat wider slot I2 and a wider spacing of the centering of the case-centering walls I4.

I claim:

1. A device of the class described comprising an elongated body member provided with an interior receiving chamber which is closed at the bottom and the sides and at one end but which is open at the other end, the upper face of said body having a shallow case-receiving recess which has a progressively increasing Width from one end to the other, said body member being provided with a slot in its upper side which extends longitudinally of the recess centrally thereof and which communicates with said receiving chamber, and a removable plug for closing the open end of said chamber, said plug having at its inner end a recess formed with a portion of larger diameter to receive the end of the body of a rod-like primer-ejecting implement and a portion of smaller diameter to receive the reduced primer-engaging tip of said implement, said plug when in position not only closing the open end of the chamber but being adapted to support a primer-ejecting implement when it is stored in said chamber.

2. A tool for removing a detonated primer from cartridge cases comprising an elongated body member provided with an interior receiving chamber which is closed at the bottom and sides and one end of the body member but is open at the other end of said body member, the upper face of the body member having a shallow case-receiving recess which has a progressively increasing width from one end to the other, and said body member having a slot which extends longitudinally of the recess centrally thereof and which communicates with said receiving chamber, a removable plug for closing the open end of the chamber, said plug having at its inner end an axial recess, the outer end of which recess is of larger diameter than the inner end, and a rod-like primer-ejecting element having a body of substantially uniform size and a red'uced/primer-engaging end, the portion of the recess in the plug of larger diameter being of a size to receive the end of the body portion of said primer-ejecting element, and the portion of the recess of smaller diameter being of a size to receive the reduced end of said primer-ejecting element, said element being of a length so that it can be stored in said receiving chamber when the end of said element is occupying the recess of the plug and the plug is in position to close the open end of said chamber.

GEORGE NORMAN ALBREE. 

